Just got home from my annual whirlwind trip to the mountains of the Northeast. The temps were hot and humid on day 1 even for this southerner but cooled off too much to go naked by day 2. It was still nice to be on those beautiful mountains with their giant deer, black bears, and trout. I have had some great times with loved ones up there over the last 18 years and have a real connection with the land. I have thus been paying attention to the environmental debate over all the natural gas mining going on up there. The gas companies are having great success in extracting gas from areas once thought to be unreachable. There is alot of gas down there and alot of people are making alot ot money on it including the farmers leasing their lands for the mining. Property values are up as are tax revenues as workers move in to the area. It's a real boon in all ways economically to a region that has suffered as our US manufacturing base has shifted to other countries. Historically mining has been a dirty and destructive process and that is always a concern. In this area of the country coal mining polluted more than a few streams and rivers to where theycouldn't support wildlife. Fracking has it's problems as well. More than a few drinking water wells have beenforever ruined by fracking as pollutants haveleached into the wellsthru the process. I haven't seen the issues associated with dirty mining like the strip mining of the past with fracking and we do need the gas. I am curious about where this gas is being burned at. If we are damaging anything underground I would hope it was to benefit only domestically. For now I am still on the fence with this issue and will continue to watch. If anyone out there has any info or an opinion please reply.

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